Wraith Arc: Chapter 5

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Sayaka sits on a lightpole, looking down at a shocked Kyoko and Hitomi. They ask if this is all a joke and Sayaka leaps down lightly, grinning and telling them it's not. Sayaka sheepishly rubs the back of her head as she tells Kyoko and Hitomi how she was wrapped up in dazzling light before being blown off to another dimension and never realizing an entire month had passed. She laughs it off and Kyoko is too stunned to believe anything she says. Hitomi however, marches right up to Sayaka. Sayaka apologizes to Hitomi for going too far, and while it's a long story she'll tell everyone the details later. Hitomi bows her head and, crying, apologizes to Sayaka instead and begs her to listen. She explains to Sayaka how on the day she told Sayaka about her feelings for Kyosuke, she ended up breaking her promise of a day and later ended up meeting with Kyosuke. Sayaka asks if she did confess to Kyosuke her feelings, but even to this day Hitomi hasn't. Her meeting with Kyosuke was purely coincidental and they only ended up chit-chatting that day, however her feelings for Kyosuke are not what she wants to apologize for. Rather, she wants to apologize for stealing even one minute from the entire day that she had promised Sayaka she would have to sort through her own feelings for Kyosuke. Sayaka asks if Hitomi was worried about her while she was gone to which Hitomi, in tears, replies that of course she was. Sayaka doesn't doubt Hitomi's feelings, but wonders outloud if Hitomi was worried about her or was instead scared because she believed Sayaka was dead and blamed herself. She continues, saying maybe Hitomi was feeling anxious because she believed that Sayaka was going to confess to Kyosuke that day and because of her conversation with him it ruined Sayaka's chance at confessing. If this is true, then in Sayaka's eyes it's the greatest kind of betrayal. Sayaka walks right up to Hitomi and proposes Hitomi hand Kyosuke over to her if she's truly sincere in her apology. Sayaka smiles broadly and Hitomi is at a loss for words. Sayaka tells her if she's not willing to lose Kyosuke, then Hitomi will have to lose her instead. Kyoko turns angrily towards Sayaka, accusing her of being weird but Sayaka tells her someone who isn't even her friend should just keep their mouth shut. Sayaka then turns on Kyoko, accusing her of thinking they were friends when she was just being a little nice especially after Kyoko didn't give her any grief cubes despite knowing Sayaka was in a bind. With this in mind, she blames Kyoko for her death. Sayaka then laughs and says she's still alive since she's right there but Kyoko is having none of it and tells her to stop messing around. Something cuts at Kyoko, narrowly missing her face as Sayaka stands there with her hand outstretched, wraith power accumulating around her hand. Sayaka smiles and says her hand slipped as Kyoko stands protectively in front of Hitomi, declaring that Sayaka is already dead.

Meanwhile, Mami walks through the park at night asking the night air how long it's been since they had a walk together as a family. Her parents walk behind her, their features indistinguishable. As Mami continues walking forward, she describes to her parents the difficulties she had growing up alone, cooking and fending for herself as she cried to sleep. As she pauses, she tells her parents she no longer regrets the miracle she was granted and she's very happy to be able to meet them again. She then transforms into a magical girl and unleashes a tiro finale on her parents who now display wraith features. Before she fires her attack, she apologizes for having to destroy them but defeating all the wraiths is her mission.

Back at the station, the fake Sayaka unleashes her wraith powers, displaying the disjointed limbs of a wraith but still mostly Sayaka in form. Not being able to transform in front of Hitomi, Kyoko is unsure of what to do, but the wraith-Sayaka turns and skitters away, leaping into the night. Kyoko starts chasing after it but Hitomi wants to know what happened to Sayaka and what is going on. Kyoko only tells her to forget everything she saw here and remember that Sayaka is dead. Kyoko chases after the wraith-Sayaka, unable to keep up when a hoard of smaller wraiths swarm around her.

At the park, Homura takes a short break from searching after the giant wraith. After another fruitless night, Homura considers expands her search in the hopes of finding the giant wraith's movements. Kyoko calls out to her, telling Homura she managed to find a clue about the wraiths. She beckons Homura closer but suddenly a shot ring out from between them and Mami appears nearby, musket in hand. Homura transforms into a magical girl in a panic and Mami cautions her away from Kyoko, warning her it's not Kyoko at all but a wraith. Kyoko unleashes her wraith power and pops apart into the disjointed form of a wraith. Smaller common wraiths begin to circle around Homura and Mami. Mami offers to cover for Homura so she can escape but Homura wants to fight as well and opens up a gym bag filled with homemade bombs. Mami asks if Homura is interested in using guns and summons a circle of muskets around them. Both girls grab hold of a musket each and begin blasting away at the wraiths surrounding them. As they begin to make a bit of headway, the wraith-Kyoko drops down, spear in hand and shooting at the girls with wraith beams. As the girls dodge the attack, Homura notes she's never seen a wraith mimic a human before, however their attacks remain the same even if they mimic magical girls. Mami responds by summoning hundreds of muskets at once in the air above her. As she fires at wraith-Kyoko, the wraith disappears only to reappear behind Mami ready to attack with her spear. Homura grabs a nearby musket and takes aim at the wraith-Kyoko only for it to once more disappear and reappear behind her. Homura is able to block with the butt of her musket and holds her off as Mami takes aim at the wraith-Kyoko. Time freezes around Homura and wraith-Kyoko, taking Homura back by surprise. The wraith jumps off to the side to avoid Mami's shot and time begins again. Homura thinks on what just happened and realized that time stopped, however she was not the one to do it. Mami is confused about what just occurred in the battle until Homura explains it was time manipulation and how to attack with such magic. The smaller wraiths begin to focus their attacks on the girls once more as Mami asks Homura for a way to defeat their time stop attacks. As they dodge around the wraith-Kyoko once more, Homura tells Mami the only way is to be touching the wraith when it freezes time. Suddenly, a voice in Homura's head asks if she can help her. Homura looks around but no one is visible. The voice speaks once more, saying it knows they want to beat the wraith's time manipulation powers and it'll help them to do it since it's not their enemy. The voice asks if Homura will trust it as Homura looks down at her bag of bombs. Mami continues to shoot at the wraith-Kyoko, dodging and turning, unleashing a tiro finale on it only to have the wraith once more 'teleport' behind her. Homura runs around the field, leaving a trail of bombs on the ground. She calls out to Mami to threw a ribbon at her which she catches in her hand. Homura tells Mami not to move as she stands still, baiting the wraith to attack her first. As the wraith draws close, Homura pushes a button that detonates the bombs surrounding them, causing smoke to pour out and cloud everything. They stand still and Homura asks the voice in her head where the wraith is. The wraith-Kyoko creeps closer, in a panic from the smoke around them. The voice calls out, warning Homura the wraith is above her. Homura yells to Mami to use her binding magic above her and as the smoke clears the wraith-Kyoko hangs suspended above them, wrapped in Mami's ribbons. Mami once more summons her Tiro Finale, hitting the wraith dead and center. The fight over, Homura asks if the wraith was defeated but it doesn't seem so. Kyoko comes running into view, asking what Mami and Homura are doing here. Mami points her musket at Kyoko but Kyoko is too confused to respond. The girls look at each other and realize she must be the real one. At the mention of being called "the real one", Kyoko asks if they've seen the fake wraith as well except the one she saw had turned into Sayaka. Mami realizes how late it is and suggests they all go home and get some rest. Before leaving, she warns them to be careful when they walk the streets at night before they meet up tomorrow after school.

Homura stands alone asking herself what that voice was when she suddenly hears the voice in real life and turns to face them. A young girl is walking up to Homura, white dress billowing in the night breeze and a ribbon tied lightly around her neck. Madoka smiles at Homura and tells her she missed her.